KCAP wins competition for southern edge of Olympic Park Beijing

KCAP Architects&Planners has announced on January 19th that the office has won the prestigious masterplanning competition for the development of a 50 hectares site at the southern edge of the Olympic Park in Beijing, China. Together with its local design partner, the Beijing Institute for Architectural Design (BIAD), KCAP, that holds holds offices in Rotterdam and Zurich, proposed a large scale development which is embedded in the urban context of the city and connects the site to the emerging transport nodes along the newly built metro line. 

The new city quarter introduces new uses to the area. It will house a variety of functions ranging from mainly residential and office spaces to retail and other commercial functions, two public transport hubs with bus interchange and metro station, and a series of hotels as well as cultural and community facilities. The proposed urban lay-out respects Chinese traditions of spatial organization and translates them into the larger scale of the development. The result is a highly flexible and adaptable plan which will be further developed in the coming years.   

The heart of the scheme is formed by a large scale urban park acting as a bridge building with commercial functions in an east west direction below a large landscaped roof. It bridges a tunnel which will connect to a an important north-south axis of the urban grid of Beijing. The landscaped heart of the plan intermediates between all parts of the site and forms the central element of the scheme.   

“We are extremely happy to help shaping the legacy of the Olympic Park in Beijing. This project is a key contribution to activating a former Olympic Area. We believe to be able to demonstrate similar qualities in our other current Olympic Legacy commission – the London Olympic Legacy Framework,” says Kees Christiaanse, founder and partner of KCAP.    

KCAP together with its local partner, will remain involved to elaborate the winning masterplan concept and subsequently as designer of the public infrastructure as well as of the public landscape within the scheme. The implementation of the plan is projected to start within 2010. 

Images: © TURZEN CG